


The Short Happy Life of Will Oliver

by Thestarwarsdoctor



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, TAHITI!Ward
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-06-02 12:57:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6567256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thestarwarsdoctor/pseuds/Thestarwarsdoctor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will Oliver is a small town vet with a normal life, until the day his barn randomly sets fire, and he finds himself introduced to a world he never imagined</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Barn Fire

**Author's Note:**

> My first story, so I'm nervous about posting this. Thanks to my best friend for plotting with me, beta reading everything, and offering suggestions. Please leave feedback!

**Sumner, Montana**

Will Oliver had the perfect life.  He had the perfect job (he was vet in ranch country.  Not exactly what he had planned, but he found he loved it still.), the perfect house (a small cabin on the edge of the woods, perfect for a loner like him), an awesome girlfriend, and most importantly, the two best dogs known to man, Hershey and Marshmallow.  Will was happy.  Everything was good.  

Will had moved to Montana two and a half years ago, after an accident in Boston had knocked him around.  He had used all of his savings on a tropical vacation, then, deciding he needed a change, he packed up and moved out to Montana. 

When he had gotten to Sumner, Will had bought the cabin, and had applied for a job at Jen’s vet clinic. While there, he had seen Hershey, in a crate, looking miserable.  Dr. Stafford (she didn’t become Jen until a couple of months later, when they started dating), had explained to him that the poor dog had been abandoned and was awaiting an adoption that probably wouldn’t happen.  Will had immediately agreed to take the poor thing, but then Hershey had dragged him to the back of the clinic to introduce him to his mate, Marshmallow.  Will had adopted both of them, not wanting to separate the two lovebirds. 

Will had settled happily into his new life and job.  Life was simple.  He had especially liked his new boss, who had been so impressed with his work (and his compassion with the dogs), that she had promoted him to partner two weeks in.  That had just added to his crush on her, and, after spending nearly a month and a half building his confidence, he had finally asked her out.  Much to his surprise, she had said yes.  A year after Will Oliver moved to Sumner, Jen moved in with him, and together they converted the barn and moved the clinic there.  Life had been just about perfect.

 

That was, until the night of the barn fire.

The day the barn burned down started out like any other.  Will had woken up long before Jen, around five, gotten dressed and gone for a long run through the woods.  When he got home, he showered, made coffee and breakfast for him and Jen (who was awake by then), then went out to the barn to take care of the boarders. 

The day progressed normally, people bringing their pets in for various appointments.  Around 2 pm, a call had come in from Tilden’s Ranch.  One of Tilden’s cows was sick.  Will drove out to check on the cow, but there was nothing to be done.  The poor animal was too far gone, and Will had to put it down before the infection spread to the rest of the herd. 

Old man Tilden had been pissed, and had refused to pay for Will’s services, and they had argued.  Will had been very mad. 

Marshmallow had had her puppies in the barn a few weeks ago, and they were still cleaning up from it.  Will had gone out there to clean and relieve some stress.  So Will had been pissed, moving stuff around in the barn, when suddenly, FIRE.  Everywhere! Will suddenly found himself surrounded by flames.  Will had frozen, trapped, when one of the flames jumped towards him, licking up against him.  Will closed his eyes, waiting for pain, but nothing.  He looked down, and the flames were riding up his arm.  He could feel the heat, but he wasn’t being burned. 

Will took a step forward, moving into the fire.  He walked through, still somehow avoiding being burned.  Slowly, in a daze, Will made his way out of the burning building. 

When he finally pushed his way out of the burning barn doors, he saw Jen on the porch with Hershey and Marshmallow, phone in her hand and tears in her eyes.  Her other hand was holding Hershey’s collar, keeping him from running at the barn.

When Jen saw him, her jaw dropped, and she let go of Hershey.  The dog came running to Will, but then slowly backed away, whimpering.  Will looked down, and was shocked to see that his arms were still on fire.  Hershey barked and howled at him, clearly afraid, and Jen screamed.  Will stared down at himself, before collapsing and passing out.

 

Will woke up on a stretcher, fire chief Matheson, a couple of EMTs, and Jen standing over him.  He was covered in a blanket, his clothes seemingly burned away.

The people standing over him were arguing. 

“You need to take him to the hospital, Hal!  He came out of that barn on FIRE!  He should be burned!  Something’s wrong with him!” Jen said angrily. 

Matheson shrugged and looked helplessly at Jen.  “There’s no point, Dr. Jenny.  Will’s fine!  Somehow he didn’t get burned, it’s like the fire didn’t even touch him!”

Jen sighed and rolled her eyes.  “Are you sure he’s ok?  It was so strange,” she asked the EMTs.

They nodded, and finally, the group looked down at Will, finally noticing that he was awake. 

“How you feeling, Dr. Oliver?”  One of the EMTs asked.  

Will glanced around at the group surrounding him.  “Yeah, I’m, I’m, fine.  What happened?  Why did the barn burn?”

He sat up, wrapping himself up in the blanket as he did. 

Matheson studied him.  “I don’t know what happened, Doc.  Can you show us what you remember?  We can’t find any starter or ignition.  Can you walk us through the start of the fire?”

Will nodded, still slightly out of it.  “Let me get some clothes, check on Hershey.  Give me a second to recall everything.”

He stood, walking back to the house.  Slowly, he walked into his room and pulled on the first clothes he could find, then walked back out to the main room of the cabin.  Hershey was lying on the carpet with Marshmallow and the puppies.  Slowly, cautiously, he approached them, sticking his hand out for Hershey to sniff.  The dog slowly walked over, licked his hand, and then nuzzled up to him.  Satisfied that everything was okay with the dogs, Will went back outside to face the chief and the rest of the fire crew.

“Ready Will?”  Chief Matheson asked.

Will nodded, and led the fire crew and Jen to the barn. 

The inside of the building was mostly burned out, ashes everywhere.  “So tell us what happened in here, Dr. Oliver.”

Will brought them over to the corner he had been in.  Around where he had been standing when the fire started, in a three foot radius, was a circle of burn marks.   The fire seemed to spread out from there, but Will couldn’t see where the burns had started from. 

Will turned back.  “I was here, cleaning up after the mess from the puppies, when the fire started.  The fire jumped to me, caught on my arms.  I couldn’t feel it, and I was scared, so I walked through the flames to the door, out into the yard.  I saw Jen and the dogs on the porch, and Hershey came up to me, he howled at me, and I passed out.  That’s all I remember, Chief.”  As he talked, Will walked them through the barn and the yard.  Jen and the firemen following him, and they all stopped in the yard about where Will had passed out.

“That’s all you remember Will?”  Jen asked.  Will nodded. 

Chief Matheson ran a hand through his hair.  “Well it seems like this was all an unfortunate accident, Oliver.  I’ll write up the report.  If you feel any affects from your walk through the flames, get yourself checked out.  Have a good night, Docs.”

He rounded up his men, and slowly the fire department and EMTs left Will’s property. 

 

**S.H.I.E.L.D. Base: The Playground**

Daisy Johnson was writing mission reports when she heard the beep from her laptop.  She turned to see an alert from a program she had set up to track for new Inhumans, something she had set up back when the outbreak had first occurred. 

Bored, she grabbed the computer and checked the alert.  It was a fire department report from a small town in Wyoming.  A barn had randomly set fire without explanation, and the man inside had just walked out, without being harmed.  Sighing, she picked up the computer and walked over to Coulson’s office.

“Hey Coulson, we’ve got a new Inhuman.  Fire powers, apparently, super destructive.  Can I go pick him up?”  She handed him the computer.

“Go ahead.  Mack’s still off duty, so get Bobbi and Hunter, fly out there.  Talk to him, see if he needs help.”  Coulson passed the laptop back to Daisy. 

She nodded, and went to grab her teammates.

 

Bobbi flew the Quinjet while Daisy briefed her and Hunter. 

“This guy is named Will Oliver.  He's from Sumner, Montana, but born and raised in Boston.  He moved out there a couple of years ago.  He and his girlfriend, Jennifer Stafford, run a vet clinic out there, serving all types of animals, but mostly ranch animals, line cattle and horses.  He lead a totally normal life up until a week ago, when his barn caught fire with him in it.  The report says he claims the fire started out of nowhere, and the investigation confirmed that.  Also, according to his girlfriend, he walked through the fire to get out of the barn, but while his clothes were burned, he's totally fine,” Daisy said, passing the file to Hunter to look at. 

“So we’re assuming that this guy has fire powers, right?”  Hunter asked.

She nodded.  “Yup.”

“So what’s the plan?  Are we treating him as a hostile, storming his place?  What’s up?”  Hunter asked. 

Daisy shook her head.  “We don’t know anything about this guy except what was in the fire department report.  We’re gonna go to them, as the ATCU, get some intel on Oliver, then probably, based on what they say, we’ll probably go out to his place and talk to him.  He’s a vet, he can’t be that bad.”

“Sounds good,” Bobbi shouted back from the cockpit.  “Landing in 15!”

 

They landed outside Sumner and took the SUV to the fire department.  They were greeted by a teenage girl acting as a secretary, who sent them in to see the fire chief, an old white guy named Harold Matheson.  When Daisy asked him about the Oliver barn fire, he sighed and scrubbed his face. 

“I don’t know anything about that.  Will said the fire just started, randomly, and all the evidence we could find shows that there was no way anyone could have started it, and there was no way Will could have.  Jen says he walked out of there on fire, and his clothes were burned to ashes, though for some reason he was fine.  I couldn’t figure it out, and Dr. Oliver is fine now, so we were just gonna let it go.  What does the ATCU want with the doc anyway?”

“We just wanna talk to him.  It’s our job to investigate weird stuff like that, so we just wanted to check it out.  Can you give me directions to his farm?”

Matheson nodded, and gave Daisy the directions.  She went back to the car and passed the directions on to Bobbi.  “We need to go about 5 miles out of town, look for the sign for the vet clinic.  Oliver and his girlfriend live there, and the barn’s there too, so we can get a look at it.”

Bobbi nodded and drove off.  About 15 minutes later, they came across a sign reading “Will Oliver and Jen Stafford, DVMs.”

Bobbi parked the SUV, but Daisy stopped her and Hunter when they started to get out.  “Let me make the approach on my own.  Matheson said Will is a nice guy, but we don’t want to scare him any more than he probably already is.  We have to be careful.”

Bobbi and Hunter nodded, and Daisy got out and slowly approached the cabin on her own.  She climbed the steps and cautiously knocked on the door.  She stepped back, hearing someone call “one sec!” from inside.  A tall man answered the door, holding a pair of chocolate lab puppies and followed by a whole litter of them.  He stopped one from running out the door, then looked up.  He smiled down at her, holding one of the puppies up.

“Hi, I’m Will.  Are you here about the puppies?”

But Daisy was frozen in place, unable to move, barely able to think.  “WARD?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my best friend, who basically co wrote this, and all the people who beta read it for me.

Will and Jen had been giving the puppies (and Marshmallow) their weekly checkup when the knocks came. Jen was busy with Marshmallow, so he had stood up (taking Reese's and Truffles with him), and headed to the door, trailed by some of the other puppies. When he opened the door, Skittles tried to run out so Will stuck his foot out to keep the puppy in. 

When he finally looked up, he saw a vaguely familiar looking woman. He thought she might be here about adopting a puppy, so he asked, but she just stared at him in response, before choking out a single word, as if in total shock.  
When she did, two people jumped out of the car, a woman and a man, who reached for the guns on their hips. The woman on the porch gestured for them to pause, so they stood by the car, hands on their guns.

Will was confused for second, searching for a response, before finally saying, “I’m sorry, what? Can I help you?”

“Stop messing around, Ward. I know it's you. What the hell are you doing here? What happened to William Oliver?” The young woman look very upset and angry, almost like she was going to hit him.  
Will had no idea what was going on. This woman clearly wasn’t here about the puppies, that much he could figure out. She also seemed to think he was someone else. Will figured he could at least correct her on that. He also needed to figure out why exactly she was looking for him. 

“I’m Will Oliver. How can I help you?”

The young woman could only stare at him. It took her a few moments, but then, seemingly deciding that she wasn’t going to get him to change his name, she waved the other two back into the car and finally responded.

“Yeah, I’m… I’m Daisy, Daisy Johnson. I’m with the ATCU, we’re here about the barn fire a few days ago.”

Will nearly dropped one of the puppies, catching him just in time. “Crap, Truffles, are you okay?” He asked the puppy, holding him up face to face. 

The woman was just… staring at him. “I can’t… I can’t do this. Seriously, Ward, Truffles? Puppies? How far undercover are you? What the hell are you even doing? Why?” 

Will stared at her, still unsure of how to respond to her insistence that he was this Ward person. He opened his mouth, trying to find a response, when he heard Jen call from inside the cabin.

“Will? What’s going on? Can you come inside for a sec, I need you to take a look at Marshmallow for real quick,” Jen came walking to the front reaching out to take Truffles from Will. “Oh, hello!” She smiled down at the woman on the porch.

 

Daisy couldn’t help staring up at the girlfriend. Jen Stafford was tall and blonde, one of the prettiest woman she had ever seen.

Will smiled at his girlfriend, putting his free arm around her waist. “Jen, this is Daisy Johnson. She’s with the ATCU, and she’s here about the barn fire from last week.”

Jen narrowed her eyes, studying Daisy. “Chief Matheson declared it an accident, and Will’s fine. Why is the ATCU interested in the fire?”

Daisy shrugged. “I just go where I’m told. My boss wants me to make sure we have our own report on the fire, for whatever reason. We’re just following orders.”

Jen studied her for a second, before turning back to her boyfriend. “You should show them the barn, Will. Tell Agent Johnson what happened. You can take a look at Marshmallow later.”

Will nodded. “Grab your partners, and I’ll show you the barn.” He passed the other puppy back to Jen, then followed Daisy off the porch. 

Daisy went back to the SUV, beckoning to Bobbi and Hunter. “So I’m pretty sure that’s Ward, but he seems to have no idea who I am, and he’s doing an excellent job of pretending he’s not Grant Ward. Also, it appears that HE’S Will Oliver. This is where he disappeared to after leaving us in the Arctic. We should still look at the barn, check out what happened, but this is Ward. I don’t know how he escaped unscathed, but he probably set the fire for fun. Let’s get this over with, go back to the Playground and report him to Coulson, come back with a bigger team to arrest him.”

Bobbi nodded. “Solid plan, Daisy. Just, be careful. We’ve always known Ward is dangerous, and we don’t know what his plan is here. We need to stay safe until backup can get here.”

Hunter nodded. “I’m with Bob on this one. Tread lightly, we don’t know what’s going on. And someone should keep an eye on the girlfriend, a task I will graciously volunteer for.” He grinned.

Daisy rolled her eyes. “Fine. Bobbi, you help me cover Ward. Let’s go, before he gets suspicious.”

They made their way over to where Will and Jen were waiting by the barn door. Hunter, clearly trying to get in a dig at Ward, winked at Jen, and then smirked in Will’s direction. 

Ward. Will. Whatever he wanted to be called. Daisy didn’t know what ever in the heck was going on, but she did know that that guy HAD to be Grant Ward. Whatever he said, whatever he had the woman, Jen, believing, that was Ward, and he was up to something nefarious. 

Ward led the group to the corner of the barn, where the charred remains of some veterinary equipment stood.  
“This is where it started. I was here, cleaning up after the puppies, blowing off some steam, when all of a sudden, there was fire everywhere. I managed to make my way out. My clothes caught fire, but by some miracle, I didn’t get burned.” As he spoke, Ward pointed out various spots in the barn. Daisy could see the ring of burn marks described in the report, where it was thought that the fire had started. The burn marks spread out from the ring. They stopped at the wall of the old barn, just barely avoiding burning into the vet clinic. 

Ward, Will, whatever, lead them out through the barn and back out into the yard. He led them out to a part of the yard that was still partly charred. “This is where I collapsed. Next thing I knew, I was waking up strapped to a gurney with the EMTs standing over me. I’m fine, the barn’s fine, and everyone’s fine. Do you need anything else?” One of the dogs had come out, coming to sit down next to Will. He reached down and patted the dog’s head. He looked up, glaring over at Daisy. 

Hunter had been growing frustrated the entire time, more and more upset as it appeared the Will Oliver wasn’t going to just admit to being Grant Ward. He wasn’t alone, but Daisy and Bobbi had better control over their emotions.

“Yeah, Ward. What the bloody hell is going on. What are you doing? What evil plan are you working as a freaking vet in the middle of nowhere Montana? What?”

Will seemed genuinely confused. It seemed to Daisy that he truly had no idea what was happening, and Daisy was starting to get a sense that something was seriously wrong. On top of that, Hunter’s poking seemed to be agitating Will, and the air around him was starting to shimmer, almost like a boiling pan. 

Daisy stepped in between Hunter and Will. “Hunter, chill. Wa- Will’s not hurting anyone, and we need to go. Come on.”  
She signaled to Bobbi and headed for the SUV. Bobbi tried to grab Hunter and follow her, but he stood firm, reaching for his ICER. 

“Ward’s coming with us. He’s freaking HYDRA, Bob, and he needs to come back with us, no matter what!” He aimed the gun at Will. “We need to bring him in. It’s our responsibility as SHIELD agents.” He turned to Will. “You’re a horrible person, and I don’t know what lies you’ve told this poor woman,” he gestured at Jen, “but your evil, and you need to go back to prison.”  
Will was very upset, starting to visibly smoke, and Daisy started to head over to intervene, when suddenly a growling sound came from behind Will. Out of nowhere came Hershey, clearly pissed and coming to protect his master. He charged Hunter, teeth bared, and Hunter reacted instantaneously, bringing his ICER around and shooting the dog.

Everyone froze, except for Will. He watched as Hershey collapsed, then followed the dog, charging Hunter. Hunter couldn’t get his gun up in time, and Ward managed to get in a couple of solid blows before Bobbi finally shot him. 

Jen wheeled on Daisy, who had gotten her ICER out when Will charged Hunter. “What the hell is going on? Who the hell are you? What the hell happened in the barn?” Jen was screaming at that point, hysterical. The woman reached for her cell phone, and Daisy panicked, turning her ICER on the poor woman and firing. 

For one slow moment, the three agents stood there, ICERs drawn, staring at each other, until Bobbi put her gun away and pulled out her phone. “Well, someone should call Coulson.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finals are done now, so I have time to write, and chapter 3 is the fun stuff, so hopefully it'll flow easily and I can post it soon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 3, where all will finally be revealed. Thanks again to my friend for reading through this and helping to plot it out.

They shot Ward one more time, just to be safe, then carried him, Jen, and Hershey back into the cabin. 

            They put Jen’s body in the bedroom, but left Ward and Hershey out in the living room where they could keep an eye on them.  Marshmallow came running in to the living room, trailing puppies, and nosed at her unconscious mate, whimpering.  She curled up with him, the puppies scattering around him, some going over to check on Will. 

            Coulson and May flew out a few hours later, bringing FitzSimmons with them.  They landed in Will’s front yard, where Daisy was waiting to meet them. 

Daisy lead them into the cabin, showing them to the living room where Bobbi and Hunter waited with Ward and Hershey. 

Simmons immediately ran over to Hershey, checking to make sure the dendrotoxin hadn’t hurt the dog.  Marshmallow sniffed at her, making sure that she wasn’t a threat before letting her touch her mate.  After making sure that Hershey was safe, she went over to check on Will.  Simmons was pointedly ignoring Ward for the moment, as if pretending he wasn’t there would make him disappear. 

Her partner, on the other hand, couldn’t even get in the room, freezing in the doorway and staring at Will’s body.  Fitz couldn’t seem to process the idea that Ward was there, even when May slammed into him. 

Coulson surveyed the room, looking around at his team and the unconscious man on the couch.  He looked around, then turned to Daisy.  “Where’s the girlfriend?” 

Daisy pointed over towards the bedroom.  “We made her comfortable.  She’s in the bedroom.” 

Coulson gestured to Simmons.  “Go check on her.  Make sure she’s ok.  Then you can come back and check on the dog.”

Simmons nodded, following Daisy’s point down the hall to Will and Jen’s room.  Fitz finally regained his mobility, and followed his partner down the hall. 

Coulson turned back to the rest of team.  “So you’re all wondering what’s going on here, huh?  You want to know why a guy who looks a hell of a lot like Ward is doing up in Montana, running a vet clinic and walking free, and now, apparently, has gained the ability to shoot fire from his hands.  You want to know why I seem unfazed by this entire thing, and most of all, you want to know for certain if this is Ward, and if it is him, why the hell doesn’t he remember anything?”  He looked around the room, meeting the eyes of every team member.

FitzSimmons reentered the room, confirming that Jen was ok.  They went to stand with the rest of the team, who were staring at Coulson. 

He walked around the couch and stared down at Will.  He turned back to the team and said plainly, “It’s Ward.”

The team broke into talking over each other, but Daisy’s voice broke through the storm.

“What the HELL, Coulson?  What the hell is he doing here?  Why isn’t Ward in JAIL?” 

The rest of the team stopped their yelling and turned to Coulson, seemingly agreeing with Daisy’s question.  Coulson stared back at them, thinking, before speaking.

“It’s Ward.  And he’s pretending not to recognized you because he doesn’t.  Grant Ward no longer exists.  He’s been put through the T.A.H.I.T.I. protocol, and Will Oliver is who came out.  That’s why he’s not in prison.  Will Oliver is a vet from Boston.  He’s not a spy, and he never has been.  He was never in S.H.I.E.L.D., he was never a part of Hydra.  This man, the new one, who just acquired strange and terrifying powers, is an innocent, and we need to help him.  He’s never done anything to hurt any of you, and you need to treat him the way you would treat any other scared Inhuman.  Do you understand agents?” 

The team stared at him, dumbstruck. 

Hunter was the first to recover.  He glared at Coulson and spat out one word.  “Why?”

“Because I made a deal with Ward.  When Skye- Daisy- went missing, I was desperate.  That was the deal I made with Ward, when I asked him for help.  He wanted out, he wanted to stay free, and I offered to let him go on the condition that he go through the procedure.  He agreed.  After the Arctic mission, he went straight into the procedure, and when he came out, Grant Ward was gone, and Will Oliver took his place.  We reprogrammed him to be a vet (I guess the techs like animals), gave Will a DVM, and dropped him in Sumner.  We’ve been monitoring him every few months, but his programming has been solid for more than two years, and this is the first we’ve heard from him in months.”

Daisy stared at Coulson for a second, then turned to her job.  “So, bring him into the Playground, assess his powers.  Are we going to offer him a position on the Secret Warriors, or just assess him and release him?  Is his programming stable enough for us to even take him to the Playground?  What about the girlfriend?”

Coulson nodded.  “We take him to the Playground.  That burned out barn out there proves that he’s dangerous, he needs to learn control.  We’ll wait until he and his girlfriend are awake, and explain to them, calmly and clearly what’s going to happen to him.  Then we’ll all fly back to the Playground, Simmons will do Ward’s power assessment, Daisy will help him get his powers under control, and we’ll send him and his girlfriend back to Montana to continue his life, without the fear of S.H.I.E.L.D. coming after him.  Jen can stay here with the dogs.”

Daisy nodded, turning to FitzSimmons.  “How long until they’re up?”

Simmons glared at Hunter.  “ _Poor Hershey_ , here, should be fine, and up any minute now.  It’s the same with Jen.  Ward should be a little longer, since he was shot twice.”

Coulson nodded.  “Ok.  Someone go check on Jen, and when she wakes up, bring her in here so we only have to explain the Inhuman thing once,” he turned to Bobbi.  “Morse, I need-“

Suddenly, there came a whimpering from the floor.  Hershey was starting to wake up, just as Simmons had predicted.  She reached down to pet the dog, smiling.

And then, also as Simmons had predicted, there was noise from the bedroom, someone getting out of bed and coming down the hall.  Jen Stafford was awake. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there's another chapter done. In other notes, summer classes suck, but bad professors are apparently great for writer's block. Chapter 4 is written and out for review, so hopefully it'll be up today or tomorrow. The next couple of chapter after that are mostly outlined, so hopefully I can find time to write them and get them up faster than I've been going.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is, chapter 4. Two chapters in one day! Warning for some (minor) language.

Jen woke up with a pounding headache.  She searched through her memory, trying to figure out where the headache came from.  She could remember waking up that morning to find Will was already on his run, remembered showering, having breakfast with Will, then giving Marshmallow and the puppies their checkup, when there had been a knock on the door.

            From there, her memory started to get fuzzy, but she remembered the knock at the door, remembered Will going to answer it.  She remembered hearing Will’s confusion, and going to to the door to see what was going on.  Jen could vaguely remember the strange woman asking about the barn fire, and Will showing her and another pair of agents the barn and telling the story.  She could barely remember the male agent needling Will, Hershey’s attack, and then a brief shot of pain and blackness.

            She had been shot!  Jen looked down.  She could see a hole in her shirt where the bullet had cut through, but underneath, there was nothing.  Her shoulder didn't even hurt.  It was as if she hadn’t been shot at all. 

            The headache seemed to be fading, and as Jen looked around, she realized there was no sign of Will or the dogs.  Suddenly worried, she climbed out of bed, hoping that they were all okay, out in the living room.

            She walked down the hall, looking for them, and stopped short.  Her living room had been invaded.  The three agents from earlier were there, but they had been joined by even more agents. 

            Will lay on the couch, Marshmallow nosing at him, trying to make sure that he was okay, and a couple of puppies lying on top of him.  Hershey lay on the floor, wide awake and acting as though he had never been shot, and a short brown haired woman sat on the floor with him, petting him.  Standing next to her, glaring at Will has if he had killed his family, was yet another agent, this one a man with curly sandy brown hair. 

The third new agent was the first one to notice Jen entering the room.  The short Asian woman gestured to the last new agent, a balding middle aged guy, who looked and dressed like an accountant.  “Coulson, she’s up.”

Coulson, as the man’s name seemed to be, turned to Jen.  He was standing by the couch where Will lay, and until he turned to look at Jen, he seemed to be having a staring contest with the man who had shot Hershey. 

He smiled politely at Jen, and was about to speak when Jen finally found her voice.

“Who the hell are you guys?  Why are you invading my house?  What the hell is going on?!”  She was borderline shouting by the time she got to the end of her speech, her fear and worry over Will and the dogs turning to anger upon seeing her house full of strangers. 

The man, Coulson, managed to hold on to his bland smile in the face of her anger, and calmly raised his hand, asking her to stop.  “Dr. Stafford, I'm Phil Coulson, Director of S.H.-  I'm with the ATCU.  We’re here about about the barn fire that occurred here a few nights ago.  Can you tell me anything about that?”

Jen took a deep breath before she spoke again, trying to match the man’s calm.  She was still glaring at him, but this time when she spoke, her voice was even.  “Will told your agents everything already, Mr. Coulson.  Didn’t they tell you?” 

This Coulson guy worried her.  She had heard him start to introduce himself as S.H.I.E.L.D., and she had vague memories, stretching back to childhood, of her father talking about how S.H.I.E.L.D. was dangerous and an annoying problem.  And she could clearly remember a few years back, when S.H.I.E.L.D. was all over the news, when the organization had turned out to be run by Hydra.  She already didn’t trust this guy, but the idea that he was connected to that world worried her even more.  What the hell could he want with Will?  Why were the other agents so upset?

Coulson shook his head.  “I only got here a few minutes ago.  I haven’t heard the full story of what happened yet.  Why don’t you explain to me what you remember, from today and the barn fire.”

Jen nodded, and took him through the short version of what had happened that morning, from the knock on the door, through Will’s explanation, to her shooting.  That done, she turned her mind back to the night of the barn fire.

“It was a normal day.  Around 3, we got a call out from Tilden’s Ranch.  One of his cows had been sick for a few days, but he wanted to wait it out because he thought it would get better.  She didn't, so Tilden caved and called us.  Will went out and checked the cow, but at that point, the cow was no longer salvageable.  Tilden was pissed that Will couldn't ‘fix’ his cow, Will was mad that Tilden had waited so long when just a couple of days could have saved the creature, and they fought.  They fought, Tilden refused to pay, and Will left angry.  He cooled off on the drive back, and we finished out the day.  After dinner, Will went out to the barn to do some cleaning, and a little while later, I looked out the window and saw smoke coming from the barn.  I went out to see what was happening, and by the time I got to the porch, the barn had caught fire.  I called 911, and all of a sudden, Will came stumbling out of the barn.  He was on fire, like he had walked through the flames, and he passed out once he was out of the barn.  I hosed him down, and the flames on him went out, and by some miracle, he was ok.  The fire department arrived, they put out the barn, the EMTs cleared Will, and we were prepared to put the whole thing behind us.”  Jen was tired after talking for so long, so she moved Will’s legs and sat on the couch.  She looked up at Coulson.

Coulson turned to the agent that had originally knocked on the door.  “Agent Johnson?”

She nodded.  “That's pretty much what he told us.  He did mention that he was angry when the fire started, that he had been thinking about that Tilden guy and what had happened.”

Coulson frowned.  “So we think he has fire based powers, right?  And that they're tied to his emotions?”

“Yup.  When Hunter,” she shot a glare at her teammate, “was messing with him, he started smoking.  Literally.  Wa- WILL had smoke rising from his arms as he started to get pissed off.”

“Wait a second!” Jen interjected.  “What are you talking about?  You think Will has _superpowers_?”

Agent Johnson opened her mouth, about to speak, when suddenly Jen felt the couch jerk.  Will was suddenly bolt upright, wide awake and clearly upset.  He looked wildly around the room until his eyes landed on the agent Johnson had labeled as “Hunter.”  He glared at the agent, anger leaking from every pore, and bit out, “What the _hell_ did you do to my dog, asshole?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there's the fourth chapter. it was really fun to write from Jen's point of view. Chapters 5 and 6 are partially planned, I just need to find time to write them. And since I really need to do well in both my summer classes, I can't write in class anymore, which means my writing time is limited. Which also means that I'll try my best to do them as soon as possible, but no guarantees.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will's awake, and it's time for him to learn the truth about the barn fire.

Daisy watched as Jen calmed her boyfriend.  She and Will had moved to sit together on the floor, and Will was examining Hershey, making sure that the chocolate lab hadn’t suffered any effects from the ICER.  He kept shooting angry glares at Hunter, clearly still not over what had happened.  Jen was leaning into him, whispering in his ear, trying to calm him down. 

Daisy was standing over in the corner with Bobbi and Hunter, listening as Will questioned Simmons about the dendrotoxin in the ICER bullets and what affects it could have.  It was strange to hear the science coming from Ward. 

But not as strange as the entire scene. Because suddenly, it was clear to Daisy just how much Will Oliver _wasn’t_ Grant Ward.  She watched as Will processed Simmons’ answers, seemingly understanding what she was saying.  It was a far cry from the Ward on the Bus, who always hated when FitzSimmons spoke science.  What she had seen of Ward once the Hydra truth had come out had only served to confirm that idea: Ward the Hydra agent hadn’t seemed to understand or even really care about science, and had seemed to scoff at Whitehall’s whole obsession. 

But Will seemed to understand what Simmons was saying.  She was explaining to him the effects that dendrotoxin were supposed to be on humans, and predicting how the effects would translate to the dog, and Will was following the conversation with ease.

Even more unsettling to watch was Will and Jen.  In all the time she had known him, Ward had never come across a particularly affectionate (unless he was playing someone).  But he was allowing Jen to calm him, and he seemed less murderous after listening to her.  He was smiling, and, after accepting Simmons’ reassurances that Hershey would be okay, he actually laughed at something Jen whispered to him.  It was _weird_.  If anything proved that Will wasn't Grant Ward, it was his relationship with Jen.  It turned him into a man reminiscent of who he had (pretended to be, her mind interjected) been on the Bus.  It hurt, a little, to see that he was actually capable of being that man in real life.

Finally satisfied that Hershey was going to be okay, Will turned to Coulson.  “So Daisy Johnson over there introduced herself, and I've met Drs. Fitz and Simmons, but other than them, I'd like to know who you are and why you're invading my house?  Agent Johnson said that you guys were with the ATCU.  Why are you interested in our barn accident?”

Coulson nodded, as if he agreed with Will’s questions.  “I’m Phil Coulson, with the ATCU.  With me is Agent Melinda May,” he gestured to May, “and with Agent Johnson over there are Agents Morse and Hunter.”  He pointed out each agent as he spoke, and Will shot another disdainful glare at Hunter.  Coulson continued.  “Agents Johnson, Morse and Hunter were originally here because we believe that the barn fire wasn't an accident.  Agent Johnson will explain why in a minute.  Agents Fitz and Simmons came out after the incident to make sure that you, Dr. Stafford, and the dog were all okay.  I’m here because this is my team, and it's my duty to extend my deepest apologies for this incident on behalf of the Advanced Threat Containment Unit.  Now, Agent Johnson, you're up.”

Daisy snapped back to attention.  Will and Jen were staring up at her expectantly.  Daisy took a deep breath, sliding into the mindset of the leader of the Secret Warriors.  No matter who Will Oliver really was, she had to be professional.  Right now, Ward was gone, and Will was a scared new Inhuman.  She launched into her speech.

“Will, we believe that you are an Inhuman.  Inhumans have a DNA strand that reacts with the chemical compound Terrigen.  When we encounter Terrigen mist, we get enveloped in a cocoon, and emerge with powers.  We believe that you, Will, have been through this process, called Terrigenesis, and have gained fire based powers.  You don’t have control of your powers yet, so when you were angry after the cow incident, your powers manifested, starting the barn fire.  I’m surprised that was the first time you’ve caught something on fire.  Usually, powers manifest uncontrollably immediately after you emerge from the cocoon.” 

She finished her speech, watching Will’s reaction.  He seemed confused.  Jen was shaking her head.  “There’s a problem with your explanation, Agent Johnson. Will never went through this Terrigenesis process you described.  There was never any cocoon or anything like that.  And the barn fire was an accident.  Chief Matheson confirmed it.”

Daisy turned to Will.  He still seemed confused, but now he had a thoughtful expression.  “Jen’s right, I never went through that Terrigenesis thing.  And there’s no way I have powers.  You’re making shit up!”

Will had gotten angrier and angrier as he talked, and he was glaring up at Daisy from his spot on the floor.  As he got more and more upset, his eyes turned red and started glowing.  Daisy could smell smoke in the air.  Someone needed to calm Will down, or the cabin was going to catch fire. 

Jen had also noticed that Will was getting worked up.  She moved around Hershey to sit next to him on the floor, wrapping her arm around him.  “Deep breath Will.  You need to calm down.”

Hunter chose that moment to chime in.  “Look mate, you’re literally smoking.  When you charged me, it looked like your jacket was about to set fire.  And all signs point to  _ you  _ being the one to set the barn fire.  Clearly, there’s something up- something’s changed!”

Will glared up at Hunter.  The glow in his eyes seemed to brighten, and literal smoke started to rise off his arms.  He started to get to his feet.  Jen tried to push him down, but it was too late.  Will swarmed towards Hunter, his hands sparking.  He got up in the British man’s face, glaring him down.

“You need to leave my property, now.  You shot my dog, you attacked me, and now you’re accusing me of setting fire to my own barn.  I almost  _ died  _ in that fire!”  Some of the sparks had caught, and tiny flames started dancing on his fingers.  Hunter took a step back, trying to avoid the the flames, but Will followed him.  Hunter glanced over at his teammates, hoping for some assistance, and Coulson nodded at Bobbi, turning to Jen.  Bobbi took out her ICER and aimed it at Will.

“I’m sorry Dr. Stafford, but we’re going to have to subdue Dr. Oliver and bring him back to our base.  His powers are clearly unstable, and he needs help.”  Coulson signaled to Bobbi, who pulled the trigger.  The ICER hit Will, and he went down like a rock, falling into Hunter’s arms.

Jen just looked on with horror, frozen in her spot on the floor.  Hershey had jumped up, and was growling at Hunter.  Hershey’s growl seemed to shock Jen out of her stupor, and she grabbed the dog’s collar, pulling him back before he could do anything dangerous.  Jen stood, pulling Hershey into a sitting position.  She turned on Coulson, clearly upset.  “What are you doing?  What’s going on?  Why did you shoot Will  _ again _ ?”

“We shot Dr. Oliver with a high powered sedative.  He clearly doesn’t have control of his powers, and we need to take him back to our base so we can work with him on avoiding more accidents.  The sedative will make sure that he doesn’t have any issues during transit.” He turned to his team.  “Hunter, Bobbi, Daisy, would you load Dr. Oliver onto the Zephyr and fly him back to base? FitzSimmons, could you go with them, help set Will up in the pod?  May and I will finish explaining the situation to Dr. Stafford, and fly the Quinjet back.”

The team nodded, and Daisy and Bobbi moved to help Hunter with Will.  The three of them gathered the man and carried him out of the cabin, with FitzSimmons following.  

Finally, Coulson turned to Jen. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there's the fifth chapter. School's back in session, which means my schedule should be fairly regular. That means that hopefully I'll be able to write more and finish chapter 6 more quickly.

**Author's Note:**

> There's part one. Chapter 2, and possibly 3, is already plotted, so they'll be up whenever i find the time and inspiration to write!


End file.
